MLB Notebook: Trout youngest in AL to cycle

By Roger Schlueter / MLB.com

On May 10, 1997, Alex Rodriguez was 21 years and 287 days old, and he was playing in his 245th game. With a double, single and walk, Rodriguez reached 305 hits (121 for extra bases), 521 total bases and a .925 OPS for his career.

Mike Trout played in his 224th game on Tuesday night at the age of 21 years and 287 days, and his numbers are just slightly lower -- when focusing on per-game rates -- than Rodriguez's at that same exact age. Trout has 262 hits (102 for extra bases), 464 total bases and a .915 OPS. Trout does have Rodriguez beat when it comes to hitting for the cycle, however, as Rodriguez was still about 3 1/2 weeks away from making American League history as the youngest player to hit for one on June 5, 1997.

On Tuesday, Trout became the youngest player in AL history to hit for the cycle. After striking out in his first at-bat, Trout singled in the third, tripled in the fourth, doubled in the sixth and homered in the eighth. Before Trout, the youngest AL player to cycle had been Rodriguez.

Hitting for the cycleThe list of the five youngest players to hit for the cycle since 1916.

Player

Age

Date

Team

Line

Mel Ott

20.075

May 16, 1929

Giants

4-for-5, 1 RBIs

Cliff Heathcote

20.140

June 13, 1918

Cardinals

4-for-9, 3 RBIs

Arky Vaughan

21.107

June 24, 1933

Pirates

5-for-5, 5 RBIs

Cesar Cedeno

21.159

Aug. 2, 1972

Astros

4-for-5, 4 RBIs

Mike Trout

21.287

May 21, 2013

Angels

4-for-5, 5 RBIs

Trout is the first player to hit for the cycle in 2013, and the first Angels player to do it since Chone Figgins in 2006. Overall, Trout is the seventh Angels player to accomplish the feat. Jim Fregosi did it twice and was the first Angels player to do it. In Fregosi's first cycle (July 28, 1964), he became the youngest player in AL history to accomplish the feat, at the age of 22 years and 115 days. That age would stand as the youngest in the AL until Rodriguez came along.

Trout's cycle is the 128th in AL history. The first was compiled by the Athletics' Harry Davis, on July 10, 1901.

Dating back to 1916, Trout is the 31st player to be in the No. 2 spot in the batting order and cycle.

Dating back to 1916, Trout is the 17th player to hit for the cycle and also steal a base. His five RBIs are the most for a cycler since B.J. Upton drove in six runs on Oct. 2, 2009. Since '16, the most RBIs for a player hitting for the cycle is nine, by the A's Jimmie Foxx on Aug. 14, 1933.

Miggy
The Tigers defeated the Indians, 5-1, on Tuesday, with Miguel Cabrera hitting a two-run home run, giving him 49 RBIs in 43 team games. Since 1916, only three other times in Tigers history has a player collected that many at this point: Hank Greenberg (53 in 1937), Gee Walker (50 in '37) and Greenberg (49 in '35). In that '35 season, Greenberg entered the All-Star break with 103 RBIs.

Longoria and Johnson
Evan Longoria went 2-for-4 with a double and Kelly Johnson hit his eighth home run of the season as the Rays defeated the Blue Jays, 4-3, on Tuesday.

Longoria and Johnson are 1-2 in OPS for the Rays this month, with Longoria posting a 1.104 mark and Johnson sitting at .997. The top OPS in May for any Rays player with a minimum of 100 plate appearances is Matt Joyce's 1.229 in 2011. The only season to see a pair of Tampa Bay teammates each post a May OPS of at least 1.000 was 1999, when Fred McGriff (1.203) and Jose Canseco (1.027) did it.

Longoria is one of 26 players since 1916 to reach safely in at least 44 of his team's first 45 games. He is the first to do it since Washington's Ryan Zimmerman in 2009. Two players -- Frank Thomas in 1996 and Derek Jeter in '99 -- reached in all 45.

Gattis
The Braves defeated the Twins, 5-4, on Tuesday, getting a game-tying home run from pinch-hitter Evan Gattis in the bottom of the ninth before winning the game in 10 innings. Before Gattis, the last Braves player to hit a two-out, game-tying homer as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning or later was Brian McCann on May 17, 2011. In that contest, McCann stayed in the game and won it with a two-run home run in the bottom of the 11th. Gattis has three pinch-hit home runs in 2013; the most for any Braves player in a season is five, by Butch Nieman in 1945. The Major League record is seven, shared by the Dodgers' Dave Hansen (2000) and the Pirates' Craig Wilson ('01).

Athletics, Reds
The Athletics defeated the Rangers, 1-0, on Tuesday, with Dan Straily and two relievers combining for a three-hit shutout. The A's only scoring came from a Yoenis Cespedes solo homer in the third inning.

The game marked the third time since 1972 (the year the Senators franchise moved to Texas and became the Rangers) that Oakland shut out the Rangers in Texas on three-or-fewer hits. The first occurrence took place on July 3, 1991, when Dave Stewart tossed a three-hit shutout, and the second game took place on Sept. 16, 2009, when Trevor Cahill and two relievers combined on a one-hit shutout.

Grant Balfour pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 27th consecutive save. The streak of successful conversions ties Balfour with Andrew Bailey (27 in a row in 2009-10) for the second longest for an Athletics pitcher.

Mike Leake (seven innings, three hits) and two relievers combined on a three-hit shutout as the Reds defeated the Mets, 4-0, on Tuesday. The Reds have six team shutouts this season through 46 team games. The last time they had that many at this point was in 2009, when they also had six. Before that season, they hadn't reached six through 46 since 1990.

With the efforts by the Reds' and Athletics' pitching staffs, there have been 40 shutouts on three-or-fewer hits in a total of 674 games played this season (one for every 16.85 games played). Last season, the ratio was at one for every 25.31 games. The most such games in any one season since baseball expanded to 30 teams was 110 in 2010, for a ratio of one for every 22.09 games played.

Tulowitzki
Troy Tulowitzki doubled and homered in the Rockies' 5-4 walk-off win against the D-backs on Tuesday, and he has 333 extra-base hits in 786 career games. Dating back to 1916, four players have had more while playing shortstop through that many games. Nomar Garciaparra had 423, Rodriguez had 391, Hanley Ramirez was at 350 and Ernie Banks had 335. The only other player with at least 300 is Stephen Drew with 303.

Roger Schlueter is senior researcher for MLB Productions. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.